Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the closure of the UK Commission on Employment and Skills, how they intend to track the size and shape of skills shortages.

Analytical work previously conducted by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), to measure the nature and scale of skills needs such as the UK Employer Skills Survey and Working Futures, was transferred to the Department for Education following the closure of UKCES.

In 2017 the department commissioned the latest UK Employer Skills Survey, which gathered information from over 87,000 employers about their skills needs and challenges. The results from the survey will be published this summer. The department is also currently commissioning an update to the Working Futures estimates – a set of quantitative forecasts of employment prospects and skills demand across the whole economy.

In addition, the Skills Advisory Panel programme, has just started to roll out across England. The programme will work with Mayoral Combined Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships to help match skills provision with employer demand at the local level. The programme will also enable the department to produce a richer picture of regional, sectoral and national skills needs.